Protective garments are worn for various activities such as sports, work, construction, security, and law enforcement. Protective garments are usually designed by incorporating a cushioning fabric and/or one or several layers of protective fabric within a sealed pocket. One particular type of protective garment is the ballistic or puncture protection garment, which is worn by various types of law enforcement agents and armed services. The best known ballistic garment is the bulletproof vest. This type of garment is made of front and rear panels, each composed of several layers of ballistic grade material, between which a cushioning may be added to distribute the impact caused by bullets. The distance between the front and rear panels is adjusted by means of Velcro™ strips, which also secure the bulletproof vest on the torso of a wearer.
Protective garments, such as for example ballistic or puncture protection, are also desirable for other parts of the body, such as the lower body, legs, arms and neck. More recent protective fabrics such as ballistic grade materials have become thinner and more flexible, allowing manufacturing of thinner garments. For example, the British Army and United States Army have started providing to soldiers ballistic boxer shorts made of flexible thin ballistic grade material. The ballistic boxer shorts comprise a protective crotch made of flexible ballistic grade material, inserted within a front pocket sewn into regular boxer short fabric. A ballistic undershirt is also provided. The ballistic undershirt also consists of a pocket, in which the flexible ballistic grade material, or multiple layers thereof, is inserted.
Although the new protective fabrics provide an improvement to currently available protective fabrics and garments designed therewith, current protective fabrics could be displaced during movement, thus exposing the wearer to harm. Furthermore, the current protective fabrics cannot be used safely for legs, arms and the neck, which require materials which must follow body movements. It is thus not possible to design adjusted protective garments which include protective fabrics which stretch to follow movements of a wearer with the current protective fabrics and manufacturing methods.
There is thus a need for a providing a material which is protective and stretchable, and to provide garments made of such protective stretchable material.